


Touch the Ground

by Vagrant_Blvrd



Series: Spin the Sky [3]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 10:47:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15411246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrant_Blvrd/pseuds/Vagrant_Blvrd
Summary: Gavin’s wiping down the counter when he glances over at the stranger in the corner booth at the sound of his voice rising in frustration.





	Touch the Ground

**Author's Note:**

> I told Miss-ingno that I had a scene in mind that takes place after the main story in this series that I've been thinking about and was ~encouraged to share (;D), so here it is???
> 
> Vaguely spoiler-ish. :D

Gavin’s wiping down the counter when he glances over at the stranger in the corner booth at the sound of his voice rising in frustration. 

Young and seeming to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, he came in just as Gavin had arrived at the tavern. Several hours left before it opens for business, but there’s plenty to see to before then. Cleaning glasses and taking stock of their inventory for Jack. A dozen other things beside, and he’d heard someone clear their throat nervously.

Quiet and polite, asking if he could have a seat, just for a bit. Had held up a small coin pouch, hopeful look in his eyes and clothes covered in travel dust and what looked liked dried blood along the side, slight bulge that looked to be bandages under his travel-worn clothing.

Tired and looking for a place to rest and Gavin had smiled at him, recognizing the signs of a man who hadn’t yet found his place in the world. 

Jack would never begrudge someone in need, so Gavin had let him in. He’d given him something to drink and some of the roasted nuts the customers liked to eat while they drank, heart aching at the surprise in the stranger’s eyes, like simple kindnesses were so unexpected to him.

Looking up at a quiet hiss, Gavin sees the stranger muttering to himself, head in his hands, something oddly familiar about it.

Something about the stranger has been bothering him – nothing that hints at him being a danger to Gavin or this quiet little village he and the others have decided to call home, but - 

_Something_.

Gavin looks around and pours a pitcher of ale for the stranger, flash of guilt in his mind knowing Michael and Ryan won’t approve of him sticking his nose into someone else’s business. 

But it’s been a slow week and there’s just something about the stranger that’s caught Gavin’s curiosity and refuses to let go.

As he draws near to the booth he can just make out the stranger’s words. Something about a curse and needing someone’s help to lift it and _oh_ , Gavin thinks, thinks starting to make sense as he looks at the stranger with a new understanding.

There’s a pair of daggers at the man’s waist, the same ones Gavin remembers seeing the old woman in the marketplace of their old village selling alongside the knife that had turned out to be Ryan.

Elegant little things, sleek and deadly looking and apparently cursed as well, to judge from what the man’s saying. 

Gavin wonders if Ryan had known about them, if everything the woman had been selling was cursed in some way and waiting for the proper person to come along and collect them. If their curses had left them blind to each other or some other explanation, and he can already imagine the tired look he’ll get for it because Gavin’s a bit fascinated with the whole business.

And the lines of exhaustion and stress on his face make more sense as well, now. That pinched expression on his face that Gavin understands because he’d had his hands full with just Ryan poking about in his head, he can’t imagine what it would have been like with two presences.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Gavin says, giving the poor bastard a smile when he starts at Gavin’s presence beside the booth. “But there’s a house at the edge of the village, hard to miss. There’s a man there who might be able to help you out.”

The stranger’s eyes narrow, and Gavin’s struck at how quickly the stranger’s demeanor shifts from tired and slightly bewildered to sharp-eyed and dangerous.

Not a threat, unless Gavin makes himself one, and even then - 

“He’s a bit of a recluse these days,” Gavin says, and it’s not too far off from the truth. “But if you tell him I sent you, he’ll help.”

Gavin can see the suspicion in the stranger’s eyes, the faint, disbelieving hope well hidden under it all.

“Why?” he asks, the word come out choked, as though it was the clearest, safest thing he could think to ask. “You don’t know me.”

Gavin cocks his head as he looks at the stranger.

“Is that necessary to help someone these days?” he asks, and laughs at the faint blush that hits the stranger’s cheeks as he looks away to mumble an apology.

“No harm done,” Gavin says, and sets the pitcher down for the stranger, seems like he needs it. “Just mind the chickens, he’s fond of the little monsters.”

Inordinately so, but that’s something the stranger will have to discover for himself to truly understand.

He gets a confused smile for that, and quiet thanks for the ale and Gavin leaves him to it. Goes into the kitchen to see if he can’t put together something a little more substantial for him to eat. Maybe pack up the scraps and excess that will go to waste if no one else takes them for the stranger to take along with him when he moves on.

========

It’s almost the harvest season when Gavin’s unlocking the door to the tavern and he hears someone clearing their throat nervously.

When he turns, it’s to see the stranger standing there with a small smile on his face and two figures at his shoulders.

Tall and slender, and he can imagine that at a distance they’d easily be mistaken as siblings. Twins, perhaps.

The taller one is watching him with sharp eyes while the other grins at him, sly and mischievous and Gavin likes him already.

“I was wondering,” the stranger says, and there’s laughter in his voice as he looks at Gavin. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble if we could come in and sit down for a bit.” 

Gavin raises an eyebrow, painstakingly learned after Ryan doing the same to him one time too many to Michael’s amusement and Ryan’s exasperation.

“We’re willing to pay,” the taller one says, and holds up a coin purse, larger and better made than the one the stranger had shown him so long ago. “If it’s not trouble, that is.”

Gavin looks back to the stranger, sees the way he’s standing strait and tall. Confidence to him he lacked when they last met, ready smile on his face, and laughs.

“I don’t see why not,” he says, and lets them in, wondering if they’re planning to stay in the village or if they’re just passing through, and how much trouble they’ll mange to stir up before all is said and done.


End file.
